Looker's data platform aims to create a single source of truth so that every business team can easily ask and answer their own questions; current users include Yahoo, Warby Parker and Sony. Last fall, it rolled out a modular approach to analytics in the form of Looker Blocks, reusable and customizable apps that can be "snapped" together Lego-style to answer different questions.

Now, Lookerbot aims to make data more easily accessible for the Slack-using masses.

"Data has been something people do out-of-cycle," said Frank Bien, CEO of Looker. "Data needs to be part of the conversation, no matter where it’s happening."

A single command is all that's required to find data from within Slack; when users type it, Lookerbot returns the answer directly into the Slack conversation. The data is displayed in Slack as it appears in Looker, with visualization choices including charts, maps and tables as well as custom options.

Available now, Lookerbot is built using Looker’s application programming interface and software development kit. The code and installation instructions are available on GitHub. The video below demonstrates the new tool in action.

Katherine Noyes has been an ardent geek ever since she first conquered Pyramid of Doom on an ancient TRS-80. Today she covers enterprise software in all its forms, with an emphasis on cloud computing, big data, analytics and artificial intelligence.